A songwriter friend of mine said that he preferred Jewel Case over Digipak. His reasons was that digipak was more fragile. It could be damaged easier. If  a jewel case breaks you can replace it for cheap.

I felt that his reasons made good practical sense. But for me there is no contest. I prefer digipak. Yes it is more fragile, but it comes closer to what vinyl albums used to be like. They are more beautiful to look at and and there are more possibilities for different types of packaging than with the jewel case. Also the fact that it is more fragile means that you have to take better care of them (Which is what you had to do with records). It makes you value them more.

Sadly, from the indie artist standpoint of things, it is also too expensive for me to use. All of my CDs have been released in the Jewell case format. I can’t afford the digipak format yet……but maybe someday……….